The invention is directed to tooling for machining operations and, more particularly, directed to a toolholder assembly.
Minimizing the down time of a machine tool in a production environment is critical to the success of a machining operation. In the past, one major contribution to such down time was the time needed to change damaged or worn out cutting tools used by the machine tool.
Typically, a cutting tool is held by a toolholder, which is often mounted within a tool support or base member secured to a machine tool. In early tooling systems when the cutting tool needed to be replaced, the entire toolholder with the cutting tool attached thereto was removed from the support or base member. As a result of the large amount of time consumed by such tooling systems, so called “quick change” tooling systems were created. One such example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,220,804 entitled “Toolholder Assembly With Axial Clamping Mechanism” which is owned by the Assignee of the present application and is hereby fully incorporated herein by reference. Another example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,659 entitled “Toolholder Assembly for Holding a Toolholder Shank” which is co-owned by the Assignee of the present application and is hereby fully incorporated herein by reference. Yet another example is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,194 entitled “Ball Lock Assembly Without a Canister” which is owned by the Assignee of the present application and is hereby fully incorporated herein by reference.
While the arrangements in the referenced '804, '659 and '194 patents are efficient and permit a toolholder to be removed or secured to a tool support member in a short amount of time, there is still a need for improved tooling systems having other desirable characteristics such as, for example, increased strength and durability.